My name is Jennie and I am a victim of an underage drunk driver. The crash happened on April 23rd
of 2000. My husband Mac and I had been out of town at a friends house doing some work on his truck. Before we could leave
a very large storm moved through the area, so we decided to wait till the storm was over to leave. It was around 1:30 in the
morning before it was over. I don't like being on the road that late, but that morning was Easter Sunday. We needed to get
home to the kids, so we went. We were driving on Highway 80 in Mesquite Texas, and the drunk driver and his sober passenger
were on a local side street, that came to a dead-end onto the service road of the highway. The drunk and the passenger were
fighting. The passenger wanted the drunk to pull over and let him drive, but he would not. Instead he drove and was
supposed to yield at a yield sign, but he came to a complete stop and then floored it. He jumped the little concrete curb
that the sign was on and ran over the sign. He then jumped the curb of the service road and flew in the air off of the service
road and the 30 foot embankment and onto the highway and into us. He hit us head on and my side(the passenger side). Mac was
pinned in the truck and had to he cut out. He had three broken ribs, a cut on his chin and a large puncture wound to his leg
and a broken finger. We learned years later he had actually fractured his femur head and had to have a hip replacement in
January of 2018. I was ejected (seat-belt broke) onto the highway, I landed right in the middle of the two vehicles. I suffered
many serious injuries. I had two breaks to my sternum, a crushed pelvis, and broke both femurs. I was taken to the
nearest trauma center in Dallas, called Baylor University Medical Center of Dallas. I then went into emergency surgery for
about eight hours to repair my legs. The surgeon put a steel rod in my right leg and removed the broken bone chips (lost over
an inch of bone) and put plates and screws in my left leg just above the knee and extend upward, stops just below my
hip. This break pinched the femoral artery and the surgeon wasn't sure he could save this leg due to the damage. I spent the
next four weeks in ICU with three weeks and four of those days on a respirator and in a coma. A few days after the crash the
doctors realized that the tissue and skin in my legs was dying. This is called shearing, and was caused when the flesh was
torn loose from the muscle and its blood supply at the impact. I had six operations cutting this dead flesh out. Then another
operation almost a month later to do skin graphs to close up the holes in both legs. Due to all these surgeries and the crash
I was given a total of fifteen units of blood during these weeks. I was listed as critical and my family was being told
that the doctors did not know if they could save either one of my legs or my life for all of those three and a half weeks.
I did not have surgery on my pelvis because I was in the coma and immobile. The doctor said it would heal fine that way. Finally
I woke up and was weaned off of the respirator. I was moved to a room on the orthopedic floor and was there for another five
weeks. I was then moved to a rehab hospital. I spent another four weeks living there learning to situp, stand, and walk again.
When I was released I still had to go to out patient rehab three days a week for four to five hours per day. I did this for
8 months, then had to go twice a week for two to three hours per day and did this for another three months. I went from
a bed, to a wheelchair, to a walker and now must walk with a cane unless in my own home. I had 8 surgeries total. I have permanent
nerve damage in my left foot caused by the repair of the femoral artery, along with a dropped arch and rotated outward foot.
My right leg is over an inch shorter, that causes a severe limp and back issues. I still have a lot of pain, and a lot of
trouble walking. I have swelling problems and have developed Heterotopic bone buildup. It is a calcium formation that formed
at all break sights. It has caused my right knee not to bend and is a knot the size of a large grapefruit.
As for the drunk driver. The police report and court records show his name is Charlie K.
Knoerr and that he was seventeen at the time. He was driving his Mother's Mustang GT. He got a total of six stitches. His
passenger received a broken collarbone. The drunk driver was tested at the hospital and his BAC was .195 almost three
times the legal limit in Texas. He was charged with one felony count of intoxication assault. He plead guilty.
He then received ten years of probation, one hundred and eighty days in the Dallas County jail. (I asked for leniency
due to his age) He was to do community service with the local MADD chapter. He also was to attend several
classes and programs. Like the Texas VIP and CAT programs. He must pay restitution and has a breath tester (interlockin device)
on his car.
UPDATE:
His probation was revoked due to him not reporting, not paying fines and fees,
not paying restitution, and completing any of the programs he was ordered to do and not ever showing up to his community service
with MADD. He also committed another offense. It was a theft offense, for stealing alcohol. His sentence was set on May 2nd
of 2003 to the max sentence for intox assault in Texas of 10 years in the Texas State Prison System. He will come up
for review once a year.***
***Update Cont... (2011)
He was released from prison in May of 2011 under parole with conditions.
***
***Update (2013) ***
Arrested, convicted and sentenced for another DWI!
(per public court records!) ***
I thank GOD everyday for saving me and for the family that I have. If not for all of them I could not
have come through this at all.